PRP to field nominee in RS poll from Andhra

Hyderabad: The Praja Rajyam Party has
decided to jump into the Rajya Sabha election fray from Andhra
Pradesh despite being awfully short of numbers.

The PRP has just 18 MLAs in the 294-member AP Assembly
(of which 12 seats are now vacant) and requires minimum 41
votes to win a Rajya Sabha seat.
"We have our own strategy and we hope to muster
requisite support (to win a seat)," PRP chief and MLA K
Chiranjeevi told newsmen at the party headquarters here today,
on his return from a 15-day tour of coastal Andhra region.

Where does the PRP expect to get support to win the
Rajya Sabha seat? "Certain things are not publicly revealed
and we have to play the cards close to our chest," Chiranjeevi
remarked.

He, however, remained evasive when asked if the PRP
would get Congress? support as part of an understanding
between them for the ensuing elections to the urban local
bodies in the state.
Biennial elections for six Rajya Sabha seats from
Andhra Pradesh are slated for June 14. The ruling Congress is
comfortably placed to win four and the principal opposition
TDP will get two as per their strength in the Assembly.

While the TDP will never support the PRP, the two Left
parties, which have five members, are expected to support the
former. The seven-member Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is
expected to support the Congress while BJP and Lok Satta
Party, with one MLA each, are expected to remain neutral.